It was the sort of occasion that stuck its jaw out and demanded to be struck by a cliché. 

However, the showdown talks, the crunch meeting, the war of wards of words all failed to happen at Ibrox yesterday.
The jousting between Ally McCoist, manager of Rangers, and Derek Llambias, director of Rangers, and Sandy Easdale, chairman of the football board could not even be described, in the most desperate of last refuges for the weary wordsmith, as a game of poker. Most specifically, because there was no pot of cash.
The meeting between McCoist and the power brokers at the club lasted all of 40 minutes. This hardly suggests a flurry of offers and counter offers, a veritable hubbub of heated negotiation or a forensic examination of what is owed and what could be paid.
The brief remarks by Easdale after the meeting were restricted to confirming McCoist was still manager of the club and would be in charge of the team in the match against Livingston at Ibrox on Saturday.
This is precisely the worst option for all the principals: McCoist, board, club, fans and players. The cliché of "business as usual'' only applies if one is attuned to the bizarre, gaudy and even lurid events that have beset the club since at least 2011.
The situation is clear. A strong faction on the Rangers board does not want McCoist as manager. McCoist, by tendering his resignation last week, obviously does not want to be manager in the long term. The fans do not want a manager working his notice. The players will almost certainly be affected adversely by the situation.
McCoist, presumably, has to walk out toward the dugout on a December Saturday and galvanise a team to continue what might be already a hopeless pursuit of Heart of Midlothian in the race of the one guarantee spot for a place in the top division.
Unless he develops a chesty cough, he will also be expected to be at the annual general meeting on Monday.
These appearances will be, at least, awkward. His retention as Rangers manager, though, testifies to a reality that is much more than that.
The truth is that there is no money to pay off McCoist. It is, though, imperative to find a way that cuts short a notice period that has the capacity to be deeply injurious to a club already floundering in financial mire.
It is possible that the board wants McCoist in situ at the annual general meeting to help them face the flak of an understandably irate support. It is possible, too, that any subsequent share issue would offer it the room to broker some sort of deal to McCoist. The Rangers manager then could leave next week.
The alternative is that McCoist sits tight, the board remains impervious to any notion of paying compensation and the club lurches towards a play-off climax to the Scottish Championship season that will have an extraordinary premium for Rangers.
And this, of course, is not even the worst of it. Rangers announced yesterday that they were ready to fight on two fronts. The first is to challenge a move by the SPFL to deny them £250,000 of broadcast money because they have not paid a fine for the use of employee benefit trusts.
The case against Rangers seems strong because club representatives did sign an agreement that required the payment of precisely such football debts. 
The SPFL has also said that David Somers, chairman of the club, and Graham Wallace, formerly chief executive, acknowledged the liability and discussed ways of paying it.
There are at least two ways of addressing the apparent change of strategy signalled by the statement to the Stock Exchange. The first is that, yes, there is no money. The second is that the presence of Llambias on the board is leading to a much more aggressive approach to rulings or fines by football authorities.
A close associate of Mike Ashley, the £4bn man, Llambias is almost certain to be the new chief executive and his remit will not be to be generous with funds.
And this brings the discussion back to Ashley, potential saviour or derided plunderer of merchandise deals. The substantial figure of the Sports Direct tycoon can be viewed from differing vantage points.
Yet his thought processes are far more important to the club than any of the ideas expressed at yesterday's meeting at Ibrox.
The club has announced it will contest the charges laid by the SFA against it and the businessman over Ashley's influence at Ibrox. The most important question in this unfolding saga is where Ashley sees the limit of that influence.
The McCoist matter thus becomes a mere detail but one that will signify where Rangers are going. For example, any pay-off can only be achieved under present circumstances by Ashley either telling Llambias to settle and finding the funds or by the Newcastle United owner underwriting a share issue that could facilitate a deal with the disenchanted manager.
The nub of the matter is not what Sandy said to Ally or what Derek intimated to both. It is what Ashley decides to do in the next week. If yesterday's meeting was no game of poker, Ashley has to decide whether to stick or twist.
He has to consider underwriting a share issue that keeps the club afloat or sanction further loans, presumably against Rangers real estate. The club needs £8m almost immediately and further cash in the short-term. Does Ashley want to be in the hole for £10m, £15m, £20m? That is a lot of replica shirts, no matter how accommodating the merchandising deal.
The "undue influence'' matter with the SFA can almost be disregarded. Ashley may be the only game in town. If he wants full control of Rangers, he will achieve it. If one doubts this, imagine the scenario screaming: "Rangers can only be saved by 
Ashley!''
Then imagine the SFA replying: "He may be your saviour but to us he is a naughty boy who is far too big for his boots, one in Newcastle and one in Glasgow."
If there is a deal to be made, Ashley will make it with the SFA, UEFA and the United Nations if he has to. This is what he does. It is also what he does very, very well. He must, though, convince the support. There is strong, justified scepticism about Ashley and his limited ambitions for the club.
But if he walks away what then? A frantic phone call to South Africa? Or another desperate attempt to reinvigorate fans - and empty their pockets - by promising a bright future, consigning all the excesses to the past?
The most extraordinary sight on Saturday may be the presence of McCoist, a manager working his notice, prowling about the technical area. 
The most significant will be the number of spectators dotted around a vast ground.
The bond between fan and Rangers has been tested severely. In some cases it has been broken, perhaps irreparably so.
One of the most curious aspects of yesterday was not the fact that a resigned manager stayed on or a board that wants him has kept him on. It was that the fans' groups at Rangers maintained a silence. 
This was not a sign of a lack of interest or even an admission that events had finally left them dumbstruck. They will have their say, most loudly on Monday at the annual meeting. And so, presumably, will Ashley, though his sentiments will be expressed by his representatives on earth.
But his decision on further investment must be made on what he gauges is the likely spend by fans in attendance, merchandising and on the prospects of playing in the SPFL Premiership next season and in Europe in years beyond. There are questions over all of these issues.
It is how Ashley answers them that holds the key to what happens next, not just to McCoist but to the club.